Merlin One Shots

Loyalty

Merlin was furious. Arthur had forced him to attend another stupid feast with a horde of unsurprisingly dimwitted nobles. He heavily disliked these events, but that wasn't the exact the reason he was currently clenching his fists, to refrain from strangling the nearest person.

He had been called over by one of the lords at the table to re-fill their goblet, and had trudged over with barely concealed reluctance. Now he stood there, gritting his teeth in anger while the obnoxious man prattled to his friends about the incompetence of the king.

"The boy is kidding himself if he thinks he can rule a kingdom" The stuck up noble jeered, while the one next to him snickered quietly.

"He's not his father that's for sure. Uther had the respect of many. This boy is clearly inexperienced and disregarding of the laws" The other man agreed.

Merlin bit his lip, and glanced over at Arthur who was laughing heartily at a comment Gwen had made. He smiled and turned back to finish pouring the wine and avoid causing a scene if possible, attempting to contain the anger bubbling up inside him.

"Agreed" sneered the first lord once again , "Knighting commoners and marrying a servant?! A disgrace, if you ask me. A foolish child playing dress up and wearing a crown that he's clearly not fit to wear"

Merlin had heard enough. Noone insulted his friends and got away with it. Not even nobleman with obvious sticks up their ass. He purposefully continued filling the goblet in the offending noble's hand, until it overflowed and spilt onto his expensive looking robes. The reaction was quite comical; he spluttered loudly, and abruptly pushed away from the table. He set his cup down harshly in surprise, which then promptly tipped over, spilling its contents onto his lap.

"Aaarghh!" The man yelled, as he shot up from his seat, violently throwing his hands in the air.

His face was growing increasingly red as he glared angrily at Merlin, who barely managed to hide a smirk.

"You incompetent fool!" He spat in fury, pointing a shaking finger at the servant. "How dare you?! Do you know how much these clothes are worth?! More than your life that's how much!" The lord ranted angrily.

Merlin stared levelly at the increasingly reddening face, completely unfazed by the man's display of anger. There was no trace of the earlier amusement in his steely glare as he waited calmly for silence.

"Well?! I expect a proper apology, and then a well deserved punishment for this insolence!" He seethed at Merlin, and then turned to address the king for the last demand.

Arthur raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak, but was beaten to it by his manservant.

"Well then you will be disappointed because frankly, I feel no remorse for what was well deserved on your part" he said coldly.

Clearly, his words had had the expected effect and the man now looked as if he would spontaneously combust at any moment.

"HOW DA-"

"How dare I?" Merlin cut him off incredulously, feeling the anger swirling in his chest, "May I remind you my lord, that you are the one who sat here blatantly disrespecting your king! Not only that, but all who he cares about! Queen Guinevere, whom you disregarded as a mere servant, happens to be one of the most noble and kind-hearted women I've ever met!" The words tumbled out of Merlin's mouth, as he crushed any attempts the ignorant man in front of him made to interrupt.

A tense silence had fallen over the the crowd around the banquet table, as they all stared wide eyed at the scene. Out of the corner of his eye, Merlin registered that Arthur was on his feet as if to intervene but seemingly couldn't find the words, as he too was frozen with his shocked gaze fixed on them.